To: The Hon Ted Baillieu, Premier and The Right Hon Lord Mayor Robert Doyle

Dear Sirs,

We are writing to you both about a forthcoming protest rally that I and many others feel should urgently be stopped.

Please refer to the attached flier announcing this rally planned for Friday 7th December 5.30 pm in the Melb. City Square, organised by Students for Palestine.

This pro-Palestinian rally aims to attract people by using Christmas symbolism and the singing of Carols for the sole purpose of demonising Israel.

Their flier uses the term ISRAELI APARTHEID in large letters, thereby propagating a vicious lie and smear against the state of Israel, and it also promotes boycotts. As you and most decent people know, Israel is not, and has never been, an apartheid state, but is a liberal democratic and multicultural country which provides equal rights before the law for all its citizens and minorities. In fact, this is a total inversion of reality since the most apartheid-like ethnic cleansing of Jews and Christians has occurred and still occurs in Arab/Islamic lands.

It is outrageous and the height of hypocrisy for a group supporting Muslim Palestinians, including the terrorist organisation Hamas, to blatantly use Christian motifs and music to draw people in to its anti-Israel, and anti-Semitic, politicised message. This is especially farcical since Christians are constantly being persecuted and their churches attacked in the Arab/Islamic world, including in the Palestinian areas, and their numbers there are dwindling. They often seek safety and refuge in Israel or other places in the West.

We feel that this slanderous and totally false rally that aims to vilify Israel, and by association the Israel-supporting Jewish community, should not be sanctioned by the Melbourne City Council and the State of Victoria. The cynical use of a joyous Christian festival and songs in the heart of Melbourne to further their hate-filled agenda is simply beyond the pale.

Please be aware of the manipulative aims of this planned rally and kindly consider rescinding any permission that may have been given.